Featured Game - Res Arcana

Featured games are our way of teaching new games and highlighting something we think our players may enjoy or take note of. We'll explain from scratch how to play the game with a detailed description and demonstrate a few turns, then break into tables to actually play it. Each week it'll be something new, but will run the spectrum of different lengths, complexities, themes, and game mechanics. So if this week's game doesn't interest you, feel free to look again next time around!

Res Arcana is a card-based engine builder themed around magic and wizardry. Players take the role of a mage trying to collect magical artifacts and control places of power in order to score enough points to win. Cards have a cost associated with different colored mana, but this can be stored on played cards too, and is frequently a way to score points. Res Arcana is also notable in that it uses a "less is more" philosophy - players draft an 8 card deck at the beginning of the game, with no possible way to gain other cards after setup.

Res Arcana is a game for up to 4 players (5 with expansions) and should take experienced players about 30 to 45 minutes to play. It has a complexity of 2.66 according to BoardGameGeek, making this a medium complexity game compared to games typically played here.

Read the rules here: https://gamerules.com/rules/res-arcana/
Watch a video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E4t4rJjlwE

If this is your first time with this group, you should see a link to our Discord group once you've signed up for this event. You may join any time before the event begins to get to know people, but once this event starts, we'll typically join the Lobby voice chat, then move to another voice chat once we've gotten started. Note that I, as the game teacher, will share my screen to show how the game works, but all other interaction will be voice only, no video, so no need to look presentable first. The game itself will be played using Board Game Arena - please create an account on this site beforehand.